A Short Excerpt from Summer on Fire – A YA Novel

I thought I would post a short bit of the excerpt from Summer on Fire that is up on my publisher’s website. I don’t think I shared one here, yet.

“I just need your help, Sherry. I need to talk some things through and I can’t do it with anybody else. I know I can trust you. You may be an ass sometimes, but I know I can trust you.”

“If that’s not an underhanded compliment, I don’t know what is.”

“It’s all I got,” I said. I got up and headed for the door, knowing she would follow me.

“What’s Jeff up to now?” she asked as we made our way across the parking lot.

I grabbed her hand, stopping her in her tracks.

“This isn’t really everything, but someone was following Jeff and me earlier and we split up and ran through some backyards by his place and I lost him. So now I don’t know where he is.”

“What do you mean, following you? You mean, like—”

“I mean, like in a car. An unmarked police car moving slowly down the street behind us.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was. We took off and, well, he’s way faster than me. He was gone and I couldn’t keep up with him.”

“Let’s walk home,” she said, grabbing me and pointing me in the right direction. “There’s no way we can find them just wandering around.”

“Wait. No. I have to make one stop first. You can come with me.”

“Where?”

“I have to go to Arnie’s place, Sherry. I have to see him for a second.”

“Okay, whatever. Let’s just walk.”

“Thanks.”

“You said that wasn’t everything. What else is there?”

“Marty.”

“Damn, Zach. You guys aren’t helping him, are you? Look at me.” She grabbed my collar and shook. “You can’t screw around with him. You know the cops are looking for him. Do you want a record too? Because you know damn well he’s gonna have one as long as his arm before he’s twenty. Stick around him and you’ll have one to match.”

I shook myself free of her weak hold.

“I’m not an idiot, Sherry. We’re careful. He’s turning himself in. He was going to do it last night, but he chickened out.”

“Trust me, Zach. He has no intention of doing the right thing. Ever. I don’t know if you ever noticed, but the guy’s pretty much without a conscience.”

“Well,” I said. “I used to think so too. But he really convinced me last night. I thought for sure he was going to do it. He just needs one more push.”

“Off a cliff, if you ask me.”

To continue reading this excerpt, you can head on over to my page at MuseItUp Publishing. You can purchase a print copy of Summer on Fire at the link, and receive the ebook for free.